Hot take: coding bootcamps teach you to copy-paste, not actually think

Visited a coworking space in Austin last week and watched three bootcamp grads struggle for 45 minutes to write a basic if statement without Stack Overflow, so how are we supposed to hire junior devs who can solve problems from scratch?

2 comments

2 Comments

thea_mitchell201mo ago

Three bootcamp grads in my city couldn't debug a null pointer error without watching a YouTube tutorial first, so I think the problem is bigger than just memorizing syntax.

daniel5931mo ago

Wait aren't we being too hard on bootcamp grads though? The whole point of modern coding is knowing how to find and adapt solutions, not memorizing every syntax rule from scratch. Like yeah they struggled with an if statement from memory but put them in front of a real bug with google and stack overflow and they'll figure it out way faster than someone who spent four years learning theory. Employers keep saying they want people who can solve problems, not write code blindfolded. If knowing where to find the answer counts as cheating then half the senior devs I know are guilty of it too. The real skill is debugging and making stuff work in the real world, not proving you can recite the docs.